412 BC

ION

by Euripides

translated by Robert Potter

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY -

Mercury

Ion

Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus

Xuthus, husband of CREUSA

Tutor

Attendant

Priestess of Apollo

Minerva

Chorus of Handmaidens of Creusa

Attendants of the Temple of Apollo

Ion

ION -

(SCENE:-Before the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The sun is about to

rise. MERCURY enters.) -

MERCURY

Atlas, that on his brazen shoulders rolls

Yon heaven, the ancient mansion of the gods,

Was by a goddess sire to Maia; she

To supreme Jove bore me, and call'd me Hermes;

Attendant on the king, his high behests

I execute. To Delphi am I come,

This land where Phoebus from his central throne

Utters to mortals his high strain, declaring

The present and the future; this is the cause;

Greece hath a city of distinguish'd glory,

Which from the goddess of the golden lance

Received its name; Erechtheus was its king;

His daughter, call'd Creusa, to the embrace

Of nuptial love Apollo strain'd perforce,

Where northward points the rock beneath the heights

Crown'd with the Athenian citadel of Pallas,

Call'd Macrai by the lords of Attica.

Her growing burden, to her sire unknown

(Such was the pleasure of the god), she bore,

Till in her secret chamber to a son

The rolling months gave birth: to the same cave,

Where by the enamour'd god she was compress'd,

Creusa bore the infant: there for death

Exposed him in a well-compacted ark

Of circular form, observant of the customs

Drawn from her great progenitors, and chief

From Erichthonius, who from the Attic earth

Deriv'd his origin: to him as guards

Minerva gave two dragons, and in charge

Consign'd him to the daughters of Aglauros:

This rite to the Erechthidae hence remains,

Mid serpents wreathed in ductile gold to nurse

Their children. What of ornament she had

She hung around her son, and left him thus

To perish. But to me his earnest prayer

Phoebus applied, "To the high-lineaged sons

Of glorious Athens go, my brother; well

Thou know'st the city of Pallas; from the cave

Deep in the hollow rock a new-born babe,

Laid as he is, and all his vestments with him;

Bring to thy brother to my shrine, and place

At the entrance of my temple; of the rest

(For, know, the child is mine) I will take care."

To gratify my brother thence I bore

The osier-woven ark, and placed the boy

Here at the temple's base, the wreathed lid

Uncovering, that the infant might be seen.

It chanced, as the orient sun the steep of heav'n

Ascended, to the god's oracular seat

The priestess entering, on the infant cast

Her eye, and marvelled, deeming that some nymph

Of Delphi at the fane had dared to lay

The secret burden of her womb: this thought

Prompts her to move it from the shrine: but soon

To pity she resign'd the harsh intent;

The impulse of the god secretly acting

In favour of the child, that in his temple

It might abide; her gentle hand then took it,

And gave it nurture; yet conceived she not

That Phoebus was the sire, nor who the mother

Knew aught, nor of his parents could the child

Give information. All his youthful years

Sportive he wandered round the shrine, and there

Was fed: but when his firmer age advanced

To manhood, o'er the treasures of the god

The Delphians placed him, to his faithful care

Consigning all; and in this royal dome

His hallow'd life he to this hour hath pass'd.

Meantime Creusa, mother of the child,

To Xuthus was espoused, the occasion this:-

On Athens from Euboean Chalcis roll'd

The waves of war; be join'd their martial toil,

And with his spear repell'd the foe; for this

To the proud honour of Creusa's bed

Advanc'd; no native, in Achaea sprung

From Aeolus, the son of Jove. Long time

Unbless'd with children, to the oracular shrine

Of Phoebus are they come, through fond desire

Of progeny: to this the god hath brought

The fortune of his son, nor, as was deem'd,

Forgets him; but to Xuthus, when he stands